"[4] Born Noel Mathura in 1939 to an East Indian father and Creole mother[5] in Port of Spain, Trinidad,[3] he changed his name when he became a writer, and explained: "I liked the sound of it....

Play Mas was first performed at the Royal Court in 1974 (with Stefan Kalipha, Rudolph Walker, Norman Beaton and Mona Hammond in the cast), winning Matura the London Evening Standard’s Most Promising Playwright Award that year.

It would be revived in 2015 at the Orange Tree Theatre, directed by Paulette Randall in what was described by The Guardian as a "beautifully observed production... a richly informative play that raises big questions about the nature of liberation, and is also hilariously precise about the shifting balance of power.

"[9] In October 2023, a new production of Meetings was staged by the Orange Tree Theatre, with a cast comprising Kevin N Golding, Martina Laird and Bethan Mary-James, directed by Kalungi Ssebandeke.

[10] Among Matura's subsequent plays were Rum an' Coca Cola (1976), Another Tuesday (Institute of Contemporary Arts, 1978), More, More (The Factory, London, 1978), Independence (1979), A Dying Business (Riverside Studios, 1980); One Rule (Riverside Studios, 1981), Meetings (1981),[11] Playboy of the West Indies (Oxford Playhouse, 1984; produced for BBC television, 1985), Trinidad Sisters (Tricycle Theatre, 1988) and The Coup (Royal National Theatre, 1991).

[3][20] A celebration of his life and work was held on 8 March 2020 at the Young Vic, directed and curated by Nicolas Kent, Anton Phillips and Paulette Randall.